Adjustable measuring chamber for a dispenser



Nov. 27, 1962 ADJUSTABLE MEASURING CHAMBER FOR A DISPENSER Filed April17, 1959 42 7) 75 4 94 O B T 40 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 dZ k J0 1\ g 54 s; rs wa if 5 f s Q Q INVENTOR. d JOHN MIC/M61 MATEJEK Nov. 27, 1962 J. M.MATEJEK ADJUSTABLE MEASURING CHAMBER FOR A DISPENSER Filed April 17,1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent Ofiiice 3,055,887 PatentedNov. 27, i962 3,065,887 ADJUSTABLE MEASURING CHAMBER FOR A DISPENSERJohn Michael Matejelr, Piaf-infield, N.J., assignor to American CanCompany, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Apr. 17,1959, Ser. No. 807,157 6 Claims. (Cl. 222-435) The present inventionrelates to liquid filling machines and has particular reference to animproved measuring valve construction which permits rapid adjustment ofthe quantity being filled without requiring removal of the protectivedevices covering the internal portions of the valve.

The present invention comprises an improvement over the mechanismdisclosed and claimed in United States Patent 2,795,361 issued on June11, 1957 to William 'Pechy and entitled Measuring Chamber Volume Controlfor Filling Machine.

An object of the present invention is the provision of a measuringchamber which is capable of continuous rapid adjustment over a widerange of sizes within the capabilities of the machine.

Another object is the provision of a measuring chamber wherein suchcontinuous adjustment may be made from the outside of the machinewithout requiring removal of the protective covering devices whichshield the inner parts from contamination.

Still another object is the provision of a liquid measuring chamberembodying a displacement plunger which is firmly locked in place againstthe surging action of the liquid during the measuring operation toprevent variations in fill, but which is easily unlocked to permitadjustment of the measured charge.

Numerous other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparentas it is better understood from the following description, which, takenin connection with the accompanying drawings, discloses a preferredembodiment thereof.

Referring to the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a sectional view through a portion of a liquid fillingmachine embodying the instant invention, with parts broken away;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are enlarged sectional views taken substantially along thelines 22 and 3-3 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the displacement plungerlocking member which comprises an important element of the instantinvention, the plane of the vertical section being taken diametricallyand through an opposed pair of locking fingers formed in the lockingmember;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional View taken substantially along the line5-5 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a sectional detail taken substantially along the line 66 inFIG. 7, the section being taken through one of the locking threads ofthe locking member when in non-locked position.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view of the upper portion of themeasuring valve shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a side elevation, as viewed from the left in FIG. 1, of thelower portion of the protective cover member which shields the innerparts of the measuring valve from contamination; and

FIGS. 9 and 10 are fragmentary details showing certain parts of themeasuring valve disclosed in FIG. 7 in successive positions as theprotective cover member is moved to locking position.

As a preferred or exemplary embodiment of the instant invention, thedrawings illustrate a single measuring chamber V mounted on aconventional multi-valve rotary liquid filling machine. In such amachine, a plurality of such chambers are mounted at spaced intervalsaround its periphery for movement around a circular path of travel whilefilling liquid products such as milk into rectangular fibre containers Aof the type disclosed in United States Patent 2,085,979 issued July 6,1937 to John M. Hothersall and entitled Container. The container A isprovided with a flat top B (see FIG. 1), in one corner of which isformed an opening C which is closed, after the container is filled withthe product, by means of a friction plug D hingedly attached to the flattop B of the container.

As shown in FIG. 1, the container A is received in a pocket 16 of aturret 18 which is keyed to a rotating shaft 20 journalled in bearings(not shown) mounted in the main frame of the machine. The shaft 26 hasmounted at its upper end a large circular tank or reservoir 22 whichcontains the liquid product to be filled into the containers A. Theupper end of the reservoir 22 is formed with an inwardly inclinedconical wall 23 which terminates in an inwardly directed horizontalflange 24, and the reservoir is covered by a two-piece cover assemblywhich includes an outer annular ring member 25 formed with an innerupwardly extending flange 26 and an outer downwardly depending flange 27which rests upon the conical reservoir wall 23 in selfcenteringrelationship. The central portion of the reservoir 22 is covered by aremovable cover member 28 which rests upon the inner flange 26 of thering 25. At spaced intervals around the periphery of this reservoir 22,corresponding in number to and in vertical alignment with the turretpockets 16, are mounted a plurality of the measuring chambers V, one ofwhich is illustrated in detail in the drawings.

Each measuring chamber V comprises a tubular sleeve or housing 29 whichat its lower end engages within a downwardly depending flange 30 whichdefines a circular opening formed in the bottom of the reservoir. Theupper end of the housing 29 extends upwardly through a circular opening31 defined by an annular, upwardly extending flange 32 formed in thering member 25.

A lug 33 is welded to the upper portion of the housing 29. This lug isprovided with a horizontal slot 34 which snugly receives thehorizontally inturned flange 24 of the reservoir 22 to prevent upwardmovement of the housing 29 and to assist in holding it in position.

The housing 29 defines a measuring chamber 35 and at its lower end isprovided with a plurality of inlet ports 36 which permit the liquid inthe reservoir 22 to flow into the measuring chamber 35 and rise to thelevel of the liquid in the reservoir.

The lower end of the measuring chamber 35 is closed by means of a nozzleunit 38 which may be of the type illustrated in United States Patent2,755,980 entitled Machine for Filling Liquids Into Containers, whichpatent issued on July 24, 1956 to Samuel S. Jacobs and William Pechy.The lower end of the nozzle 38 projects into the container A through thecontainer opening C, and is provided with a discharge slot it) which,when open, permits the liquid in the measuring chamber 35 to flow intothe container A. However, during the measuring cycle of the measuringchamber V, during which time a measured quantity of liquid is beingisolated in the measuring chamber 35, the discharge slot at} is keptclosed, as illustrated in the said Patent 2,755,980.

When the liquid in the measuring chamber 35 has reached the level of theliquid in the reservoir 22,the inlet ports 36 are closed by the upwardmovement of a funnel 42 which forms a part of the nozzle 38. This funnel42 is raised by a cam-actuated lifting rod 46, as disclosed in theaforementioned United States Patent 2,755,980, and at its upper end isprovided with a sealing gasket 48 which moves upwardly past the inletports 36 and seals them off, thus isolating the liquid in the measuringchamber from the liquid in the reservoir 22. At the same time the upwardmovement of the funnel 42 also raises bodily the liquid in the measuringchamber 35. This causes a portion of the isolated liquid to be raisedabove the level of a plurality of overflow ports which are formed in thehousing 29 at a level some what above the level of the liquid in thereservoir 22. As a result, this excess liquid flows through the overflowports 50 and returns to the reservoir 22.

The final determination of the volume of liquid isolated in themeasuring chamber 35 is controlled by an adjustably mounted displacementplunger 52, the lower end of which is located within the housing 29 andis of somewhat less diameter than the housing. A plurality of spaced,inwardly extending, small projections 53 keeps the plunger 52 centeredwithin the housing 29. As will readily be seen, when the displacementplunger 52 is in its uppermost position, as disclosed in the drawings,the measured charge of liquid will be at a maximum, while the measuredcharge will be at a minimum when the displacement plunger is at itslowermost position, which is indicated in dot and dash lines in FIG. 1.To permit rapid continuous adjustment of this charge, the displacementplunger 52 is provided at its upper end with an indented continuousthread 54 which is engaged by a locking member 56, preferably formed ofnylon or some other suitable elastic material, which locks the plungerimmovably in its selected position.

As seen in the drawings, the locking member 56 comprises a tubularbottom portion 58 of reduced diameter which seats within the circularflange 32 of the reservoir ring 25. The inner surface of this portion 58snugly engages around the housing 29 and thus cooperates with the lug 33in holding the housing 29 in place. The median portion 60 of the lockingmember 56 is of greater internal diameter than the bottom portion 58 andis formed with a pair of opposed, inwardly extending locking lugs 62which snap into a pair of correspondingly opposed slots 64, formed inthe upper end of the housing 29 to lock the ring member 56 againstupward movement (see FIGS. 2 and 7).

The locking member 56 is further formed with a group of four upwardlyextending integral spring fingers 66 each of which intermediate itslength is provided with an inwardly projecting, inclined locking threadsegment 68. These locking thread segments 68 have substantially the sameinclination as the plunger thread 54 and in effect, form spaced segmentsof What would otherwise be a continuous thread inclined to engage withinthe locking thread 54.

The displacement plunger 52 and the locking member 56 are protectedagainst outside contamination by an elongated hollow protective cap 70which fits over these members and extends below the upper end of thering flange 32 when in normal seated position. This protective cap 70 ispreferably formed of a semitransparent material such as nylon and isprovided with a longitudinally extending radial projection 72 (see FIGS.1, 3 and 7), the inside of which forms a longitudinal groove 74 whichreceives a radially projecting lug 76 formed at the upper end of thedisplacement plunger 52.

The lower end of the cap 70 is enlarged in diameter to fit around thelocking member 56 and is provided with an inwardly projecting horizontalannular bead 78. The spring fingers 66 of the locking member 56 areprovided intermediate their lengths with outwardly projecting,horizontally aligned bead segments 80 which are of greater externaldiameter than the internal diameter of the cap head 78. The fingers 66,above the bead segments 80, are formed of portions 82 which are oflesser diameter than the inner diameter of the cap head 78, and belowthe bead segments 80 are formed of portions 84 which are of greaterdiameter than the inner diameter of the cap bead 78. Thus, when the cap70 is first lowered into position over the plunger 52 and locking member56 its bead 78 rests loosely upon the bead segments and the springfingers 66 are in their normal, outward, non-locking position with theirthread segments 68 fitting loosely within the plunger thread 54 (seeFIG. 7).

In this position, rotation of the protective cap 70 effects rotation ofthe plunger 52 by reason of the connection between these two membersresulting from the position of the projecting plunger lug 76 within thecap groove 74. This rotation of the plunger 52 in turn results invertical movement of the plunger by reason of the loose but operativeengagement between the nonrotating thread segments 68 and the rotatingplunger thread 54. As a result, the desired adjustment of the capacityof the measuring chamber 35 is simply and quickly obtained. If desired,suitable registration marks on other indicia may be provided on theplunger 52 and the semi-transparent protective cap 78 to indicate thecapacity of the measuring chamber 35 at the various heights of theplunger 52.

When the desired capacity of the measuring chamber has been thusobtained, the protective cap 70 is pressed downwardly to snap the capbead 78 over the finger bead segments 80 and into engagement with thefinger portions 84. Since the portions 84 are greater in diameter thanthe cap head 78, the fingers 66 are forced inwardly and their threadsegments 68 are pressed into firm locking engagement with the plungerthread 54 as soon as the cap bead 78 passes over the bead segments 81},as seen in FIG. 9. The cap is preferably pressed to the fully seatedposition of FIG. 10, at which point the upper ends of the spring fingers66 engage it and prevent further downward movement.

In order to lock the various parts of the valve V against inadvertentrotation which would affect the volume of the measuring chamber 35, aradially projecting locking pin 86 is secured to the housing 29. Thispin seats in a narrow vertical slot 88 formed in the flange 3 2, and ina vertical slot 90 formed at the bottom of the locking member 56. Inaddition, the complete bottom edge portion of the cap 70 is provided atclosely spaced intervals with vertical slots 92 which are dimensioned toreceive the locking pin 86. As a result, when the cap 70 is presseddownwardly so that the cap head 78 snaps over the bead segments 80, thepin 86 enters that slot 92 which happens to be in or nearest to verticalalignment with it (see FIGS. 8 and 9), thus positively preventingaccidental rotation of the cap 79.

The measuring cycle of the filling valve has heretofore been describedin detail. As explained, this measuring cycle results in isolation of ameasured charge of liquid in the measuring chamber 35. Upon completionof this cycle, the slot 40 at the bottom of the nozzle 38 is opened bymeans of an actuating lever 94, and the isolated measured charge ofliquid is thus caused to flow into and fill the container A. After thecontainer A has been filled, the slot 40 is closed and the funnel 4-2 ismoved downwardly to open the ports 36 and thus initiate anothermeasuring cycle. Details of the construction and operation of theseparts of the filling nozzle 38 are clearly disclosed in theaforementioned United States Patent 2,755,980, and are eliminated herefor the sake of brevity.

It will be apparent from the above description that the presentinvention provides a measuring valve construction in which not onlymajor changes in the volume of the measuring chamber 35 may be easilyeflected, without requiring exposure of the internal parts of the valve,but wherein minor adjustments may be easily made in similar manner.Further, uniformity of fill is assured by the fact that the displacementplunger is firmly locked in place against the surging action of theliquid during the measuring cycle. If the displacement plunger were notthus locked in place, it would have a tendency to be displaced upwardlyto a greater or lesser extent each time the milk is raised upwardly bythe funnel 42, thus altering the volume of the measuring chamber 35 andresulting in inaccuracies of fill.

The present measuring chamber construction is particularly useful indairies where the sanitary requirements are very rigid, for the reasonthat it composed of comparatively few parts which are easily removed anddisassembled for cleaning. Disassembly may be easily effected by liftingthe protective cap 70 and completely removing it from the valve V. Next,the lugs 62 are disengaged from the slots 64, thus disengaging thelocking member 56 from the housing 29 and permitting the locking member56 and plunger 52 to be lifted out of the housing 29, after which thehousing 29 is tilted slightly to disengage the housing lug 33 from thereservoir flange 24 to thereby release the housing 29 so that it may belifted out of the reservoir 22.

It is thought that the invention and many of its attend-ant advantageswill be understood from the foregoing description, and it will beapparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction andarrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the formhereinbefore described being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

1 claim:

1. In a liquid measuring dispenser, the combination comprising a tubularmeasuring housing having an open upper end, said housing defining ameasuring chamber for enclosing a measured charge of liquid, anadjustable displacement plunger having its lower portion positioned insaid chamber for determining the volume of said measured charge ofliquid, the upper portion of said plunger being provided with acontinuous thread and projecting upwardly from said housing, an elasticlocking member fixedly mounted around the upper end of said housing,said locking member being provided with a plurality of radially movablethread segments biased to a loosely engageable position within saidplunger thread, a protective cap for covering said threaded plungerportion and the upper end of said housing, means for slidingly keyingsaid plunger to said protective cap whereby rotation of said cap effectsrotation of said plunger and produces longitudinal movement of saidplunger by reason of the relative movement between said plunger threadand said locking member thread segments, and a camming surface on saidcap for forcing said thread segments from said biased position to tightlocking engagement against said plunger thread to prevent longitudinaland rotary movement of said plunger from a selected position.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said camming surface on saidprotective cap comprises an inwardly projecting bead, and wherein saidthread segments are mounted on movable spring fingers, portions of saidspring fingers being provided with surfaces which normally extendoutwardly beyond said cap bead whereby when said cap is moved downwardlyrelative to said spring fingers, said cap head will engage against saidoutwardly extending portions of said spring fingers to cam said springfingers inwardly to thus move their thread segments into clampingengagement with said plunger to lock the latter against vertical androtary movement.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein said spring fingers are providedwith outwardly projecting beads disposed at the top of their outwardlyextending portions to lock said cap against upward movement.

4. The combination of claim 3 wherein means are provided for preventingrotary movement of said cap when in locking position.

5. In a measuring dispenser, the combination comprising a housingdefining a measuring chamber for enclosing a measured charge of liquid,a displacement plunger having a continuous indented thread formedtherein, said plunger being disposed in said housing for determining thevolume of said chamber, a locking member fixedly mounted around theupper end of said measuring housing, circumferentially spaced elasticthread segments in said locking member which engage said thread on theplunger whereby rotation of said displacement plunger relative to saidlocking member results in longitudinal movement of said displacementplunger to vary the capacity of said chamber, and an actuating memberkeyed to and axially slidable along said plunger for elfectingrotational and longitudinal movement of said plunger to a selectedposition in said chamber, said actuating member having a portionengageable against said elastic thread segments for deforming saidsegments into tight locking engagement with said thread to lock saidplunger in said selected position by axially sliding said actuatingmember on said plunger to engage said portion against said segments.

6. The combination of claim 5 wherein said elastic thread segments ofsaid locking member are located on individual elastic fingers which arecircumferentially spaced around said displacement plunger.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS292,342 McMillan Jan. 22, 1884 598,035 Towle -Jan. 25, 1898 709,638Johnson Sept. 23, 1902 988,422 Wilson Apr. 4, 1911 1,621,308 BerstedMar. 15, 1927 2,795,361 Pechy June 11, 1957

